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Downsizer Forum Index -> Small Business Questions, Ideas and Advice

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jema
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28111
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Wed Feb 07, 07 11:46 am Post subject:

google search results come for free so long as you promote your site in the right ways.

sponsored google adwords links are paid by the click through I pay about 10p a click for mine, but that is on the cheap end of what you need to pay.

Hosting varies between £2-£10 a month for what you need, I'm thinking of offering hosting on a more organized basis than how I currently host a few downsizers for £5 a month. My view on very cheap hosting is that ultimately you get what you pay for, how much support can you really get in the long term if you are paying practically nothing? and how overloaded will the servers be?

joanne

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 7100
Location: Morecambe, Lancashire

Posted: Wed Feb 07, 07 11:46 am Post subject:

NeathChris wrote:

That mrsite looks amazing to me!! Im not exactly computer literate.
The domain hosying how much is that a year?
Also how much to list on google?

Ahh Google now that all depends on what you mean by listing - If you just want a basic listing - ie It appears in the search well thats free but you have to wait for Google to find you

If you want to appear in the side bar of Google or at the top thats obviously going to cost you money - you need to take a look at the info on Googles advertising programmes https://www.google.co.uk/intl/en/ads/

As for hosting - I'd hand that over to Jema but I've got to say that Mr Site looks fantastic if you are prepared to do the work

jema
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28111
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Wed Feb 07, 07 11:48 am Post subject:

Chez wrote:

jocorless wrote:

Don't want to step on chezs toes - didn't notice she'd offered as well

I'm happy to do something for you but I'm equally happy to hand you over to Chez

Plus she is nearer to you as well which would make more sense

No toe-stepping involved, happy to, but won't be offended if jocorless will do a better job. I haven't done a buying online facility yet, although am just about to do one for someone using paypal.

There is a lot to be said for getting stuff done locally. being able to talk to someone in the flesh has always helped me when doing sites for people.

Blacksmith

Joined: 25 Jan 2005
Posts: 5025
Location: Berkshire

Posted: Wed Feb 07, 07 12:31 pm Post subject:
Freewebs ! As the name implies.... free, very easy to use. (If an ejit like me can do it )

gil
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 18409

Posted: Wed Feb 07, 07 12:36 pm Post subject:

I'll be needing a website with on-line shopping designed and hosted in the near future (April onwards), though it would be good to get parts of the site up without the shop first, for information to customers.

I'm technically illiterate these days.

Have started on a plan of the site, and will be writing copy shortly.

I'm based SW Scotland : jocorless - would you be interested in setting up the site; jema - hosting it ? How much would it cost ? (Payment in cash or barter)

cheers

joanne

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 7100
Location: Morecambe, Lancashire

Posted: Wed Feb 07, 07 12:50 pm Post subject:

gil wrote:

I've sent you a PM

lettucewoman

Joined: 26 Sep 2006
Posts: 7834
Location: Tiptoe in the Forest!!

Posted: Wed Feb 07, 07 9:26 pm Post subject:
Just a thought - I use www.citymax.com for our site which is incredibly easy and user friendly, and you can have a shop with paypal or an ebay connection - its a really good site builder if you want wysiwig and not too expensive - about £100 a year. Loads of features and easy to use your own domain name.

jema
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28111
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Thu Feb 08, 07 8:54 am Post subject:

The question I'd ask about such sitebuilders is what happens when you need to go outside of their box?

e.g. If I do a site for someone it has their own domain name, that they own and control having registered it with a domain registration system, it is on hosting (preferably mine) but they can by and large choose where to go. It is based on "open source" software so that if they want to take their business elsewhere they can and it will be maintainable.

lettucewoman

Joined: 26 Sep 2006
Posts: 7834
Location: Tiptoe in the Forest!!

Posted: Tue Feb 13, 07 7:25 pm Post subject:

jema wrote:

our domain name belongs to me - and I see what you mean about the site, but I guess I could take it elswhere - however at the moment why would I? I can update it whenever I want, change the pages, the design,the colours, the layout - upload my own designs, add flash, sell if I want to from the site, pay a dollar more and get more emails - add streaming media, RSS feeds, my own html....for about £100 a year.

i investigated every other wysiwig I could find and this one is the best - the server is reliable with 99% uptime.
I can write my own code, but with this amount of convenience why would i want to? The code is reasonably tidy and it displays in most browsers.

Sorry chaps - don't want to do web designers out of a job but this is a good solution for building your own site.

OtleyLad

Joined: 13 Jan 2007
Posts: 2737
Location: Otley, West Yorkshire

Posted: Tue Feb 20, 07 9:22 pm Post subject:

I have been selling my gardening software for 3 years now via the site I built https://www.thevga.co.uk
A lot of the pics I get from istockphoto.com - they have a huge collection of top quality royalty-free images and for $1 each.
The site is hosted by positive-internet.com - I went through 3 other providers but they were all useless. Positive has a great support system and the people there really know there stuff (you get to know them by name). They are not the cheapest but they provide lots of facilities (mysql, perl,php, etc) so your site can grow as complex and big as you like over time.
For the first few years I spent thousands of pounds on ads in gardening magazines. The response in sales usually (but not always) paid for the ad!
I have given up with magazine ads and now find the best way is to get on active forums:lol: where people who might use my software hang out and talk to them! Its also a great way of finding out what people are looking for - then you can tailor your product to the needs of your potential customers.
Do get some real professional advice about search engine optimisation (getting your site to appear near or at the top of a search listing). If people don't hear about your site they will never visit it!
Last word - don't give up! Keep trying new ideas to contact your potential customers.

jema
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28111
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Tue Feb 20, 07 9:26 pm Post subject:
I keep on telling a certain client of mine that forums is the way to advertise, but they won't listen

Gervase

Joined: 17 Nov 2004
Posts: 8655

Posted: Tue Feb 20, 07 10:08 pm Post subject:
I'd echo those who say a website is worth the effort. I wrote ours meself, and pay about £30 a year for hosting. So far in the past 12 months it's brought in business worth maybe £3,000. To me a 100:1 return is not bad!

sally_in_wales
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 06 Mar 2005
Posts: 20809
Location: sunny wales

Posted: Wed Feb 21, 07 7:07 am Post subject:

Mine is self built as well, brings me in a steady flow of enquiries and its only a couple of quid a month.

Chris- with the online ordering thing, why not have an 'ordering' page where the client says how much pig they want and at what weight, then you call them when its ready. I know you arent like a normal shop where goods are in stock but the site could indicate when you anticipate having pigs ready and it would allow you to gather the required info from people online meaning you just need to make a quick call to confirm before they go off to slaughter.

hedgewitch

Joined: 26 Nov 2005
Posts: 5834
Location: Daft wench GHQ

Posted: Wed Feb 21, 07 11:56 am Post subject:

sally_in_wales wrote:

Chris- with the online ordering thing, why not have an 'ordering' page where the client says how much pig they want and at what weight, then you call them when its ready. I know you arent like a normal shop where goods are in stock but the site could indicate when you anticipate having pigs ready and it would allow you to gather the required info from people online meaning you just need to make a quick call to confirm before they go off to slaughter.

I think this info would be good to add in, Chris. As someone who is starting to look into buying whole/half animals but knows b****r all about timescales and seasons etc, it would be really helpful.

Just got my head bitten off recently for asking a local sheep farmer when lambs would be ready (she sells at the farm gate). I was only trying to have an idea ahead of schedule, so I could order from her

gingerwelly

Joined: 08 Dec 2005
Posts: 419
Location: Wales ...in cardiff at the mo but from mid wales

Posted: Wed Feb 21, 07 12:04 pm Post subject:
this the organic food delivery company I use :https://www.organicstogo.info/meat.html (meat order form)

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